Wood-surfacing mechanism



Mar. 6, 1921i,

G. LITTLEFORD ET AL WOOD SURFACING MECHANISM Filed July 2l, 1920 2 sheets-sheet l Nx mm Mar. 6, 1923.

G. LITTLEFORD ET AL WOOD SURFACING MECHANISM Filed July 2l, 1920 2 sheets-sheet 2 lu o@ u Fol a QA? @my a {tov/1213 Patented Mar. 6, 1923.

UNiTEn state s PAraNT OFFICE.

GEORGE LITTIEFORD, OF FORT THOMAS, KENTUCKY, AND JOHN' C'. KUYKENDALL, OF

' CINCINNATI, OHIO; SAID KUYKENDALL ASSIGNOR TO SAID LITTLEFORD.

' 'woon-SURFACING MECHANISM.

Application filed July 21, 1920. serial No. 398,026.

Tp all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE LIT'rLEFoRD and JOHN C. KUYKENDALL, citizens of the' United States, residing, respectively, at F ort.

Thomas, Campbell County, State of Kentucky, and at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in faces are relatively parallel and true. An-

other object is to provide improved feeding means to hold and feed the stock relative to the cuttermechanism and insure paage of the stock along a prescribed path. Another object is to provide an improved and adjustable feed table. Another object is to provide improved adjustable chain feed mechanism. Another object is to provide improved means to surface and dress stock to a uniform thickness. Our invention also comprises certain details of form, combination, and arrangement, all of which will be fully set forth in the description of the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of our mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the feed carriage detached. 1

Fig. 3 is a frontend view of the mechanism of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional detail of the lfeed chain and its supporting and guiding means.

Fi 5 is a side elevation of one of the gravlty feed pawls.

Fig. 6 is a plan of the forward feed table section detached.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged sectional det'ail on line 7-7 of Fig. 6.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred embodiment of our invention, in which 14 represents the main frame to the machine, on which is adjustably supported a saddle 15 on which is journaled a shaft 16 provided with a rotary'cutter head 17. In

. front of the cutter head and rigidly attached to the main frame are a series of inclined` blocks or ways 18 on which are movably mounted inclined blocks 19, which are rigidly attached to the under face of the forward table section 20. The blocks 18 and 19 are preferably arranged with laterally engaging faces at 21, Fig-3, to hold the table in place against latieral displacement and to cause the table 20 to travel only in one direction to and from the cutter head. A link 22 is pivotally connected at one end to the table 20,

and at the opposite end to a Weighted Alever 23, which is pivotalljT supported at 24rela tive to the, main frame and at its free end is provided with a weight 25 having a limited movement tending -to force -the table y20 toward the cutter head, .which also due to the inclined faces by which the table 20 is mounted upon the main frame, tends to elevate the table 20 as it moves toward the cutter head, and to lower the table 20v as it moves away from the cutter head. lIn rearofthe cutter head vis a table '26 which is mounted by means of inclined. blocks 27 carried thereby, upon in'- clined blocks 28, which are rigidly attached to the main frame. The table` 26 is laterally guided so as to. be adjustable only .to and from the cutter head, and to be elevated when moved in one direction, and to be lowered when moved 'in the opposite direcso'that the upper face of the table shall be horizontally 1n line with the upper limit reached by the cutting head. Means is` provided, as for instance the projections 29 and 30, and clamping bolts 31, to rigidly clamp the table 26 to its adjusted position relative to the main frame.

Projectmg above themain frame and supported thereby are a plurality of columns 32 provided with vertical ways 33 which are engaged by ways or guides 34 carried by an open cage 35. Feed screws 36 mounted upon the columns and provided withmiter gears 37 engage nuts 36 and serve to raise and lower the cage 35 along the ways 33 of the columns. Actuating shafts 38, 39, and 40 are provided with miter gears L1-1 to mesh with the miter gears 37y of the several feed screws 36, so that all ofsaid feed screws may be actuated by hand in unison through edge of the cutter with journals for the shafts 43 and et on which shatts are mounted sprocket Wheels 45 and 46. A feed belt or chain i7 is mov- Aably supported upon the sprocket wheels 45 and flo and the links otsaid cham are: pro-y i between the chain links and the' 'cage 35 'titi Where the chain links serve as aguide and support tor" the stock to be surfaced. ln order to take up the lost motion between the chain links and the guides a9, one contact tace ot each is beveled as shown at l'liig. 4.

The respectiveI chainv links are preferably provided with one or more pawls or dogs 5l, preferably gravity actuated and seated 1n recesses in the links and provided with teeth 55 to engage the face of the stock and prevent the stock slipping backwardly under the action ot the cutter head, relative to the chain links.

The end of' the forward table 20 nearest to the cutter head is recessed to receive a plurality oi pivotally attached levers 57, which are yieldingly held in substantially the position shown in lig. 6 by means ot the springs 58. The sharp free ends et' levers 57 are designed to bear against the under side or' the stock yieldingly, and in the event that the stock, or any portion of the stock being fed through the machine should be ot less thickness originally than the minimum space between the table 2O and the chain links, to

` automatically engage and dog the stock from the under side, so that (the stock cannot be ted backwardly under the action ot the cutter head. Said levers 57 also tend to torce stock passing between the table 2O and the chain upwardly against the chain so that the stock is tirmly in contact with the chain and so that the dogs 5t ot the chain links are in engagement with the upper tace of the stock. The table 20 is also provided with a series of recesses in which are pivotally mounted levers 60 each preferably provided at its free end with a roller 6l, and acted upon lo means ot a spring 62 to yieldinglyy chain links or the'dogs 5d. A counter shatt l titl b means of a pulley 65 andbelt 6G serves to rive the cutter head shaft 16 through the pulley 57 at a relatively high rate of speed. .l pulley 88 of smaller diameter on Lacasse the counter shaft 6d by means ot a belt t9 drives a pulley and shalt 7l on which is a` pulley 72, which -by means et a belt or sprocket chain 73 and pulley 7d on the shaft 43,- serves to drive the chain l? and its sprocket wheels at a relatively slow rate of speed.

ln operation, the handwheel l2 is employed to vertically adjust the cage 35 and the feed chain carried thereby until the under face of the chain is a suticient distance above the upper limit of the cutter head tor the passage of the particular type oi stock it is desired to surface. The table 26 is adjusted vertically so that the space between the upper tace of table 26 and the under face of the feed chain is the same as between the under tace of the leed chain and the upper limit of the cutter head. The stock to be surfaced is then ted in between the table 20 and the under face of the feed chain by hand or automatic leed until the :feed chain secures sulicient grip to continue the feed automatically. rllhe table 20 and the yieldingly supported levers carried thereby serve to hold the upper face of the stock firmly against the yunder tace of the feed chain irrespective of whether the thickness of the A stock at one end or at both ends is greater than the distance between the cutter head and the under face of the :feed chain. Where the stock is ot greater thickness,- the cutter head engages the stock and removes the surplus, thereby surfacing vthe under lace of the stock in whole or in part, until the stock will pass between the feed chain and the table 26. llhere the stock through a portion of its length is ot less thickness than the space between the leed chain and the cutter head, the table 2O and its adjunct levers serves to hold that portion oit the stock in contact with the leed chain and out of contact with the cutter head, and at the same time prevents liability of the stock to feed backwardly. Alter a suliicient amount et stock has been ted through the machine and surfaced on one side, the feed 'chain is readjusted to a position closer to the cutter head, andthe stock ted through again after reversing it to present the unsurtaced face to the cutter head. Any pieces ot stock which are not entirely surfaced upon both sides may be` discarded or used to the extent that they have been surfaced on both sides. Since in practice it is liable to happen vthat the rear end ot one stock piece is relatively oit less thickness than the majority ot the stock, while the 'forward end of the. next stock section may be of greater thickness than the majority of the stock, thereby forcing thetable 20 downwardlyvhy the introduction ot the second stock member before the rear' end ot the first stock section has cleared the cutter head, itis important tor the levers 57 and 60 to be in position to yieldlitt@ l par lilla Manera' e ingly engage the rear end of the stock section of less thickness until it shall have practically all passed the cutter head, and to prevent it from dropping down upon the cutter head or feeding backwardly by reason of itsnot having a firm engagement with the feed chain.

The mechanism herein illustrated and described is capable of considerable modification without departing from the principle of our invention.

What we claim is:

1, In combination with a rotary cutter'to surface one faceof the stock, a first carriage movable to and' from said cutter and provided with a plane face between which and said cutter the stock is fed, a stock supporting member having a plane face parallel to the plane face of said carriage on the same side of the stock with and in rear of said cutter and held in fixed relation to the cutter, and a carriage on the same side of the stock with said cutter and in advance of said cutter having a plane face continuously held substantially parallel to the plane face of said first carriage and yieldingly adjustable to 'and' from the plane face of said rst carriage. v

2. In a wood surfacing machine, a feeding belt at one face ofthe stock to be surfaced traveling along a stationary guide to retain the feeding face of said belt in substantially one plane, a rotary cutter to surface the side of the stock opposite said feeding belt, a

table section in rear of said cutter having a fixed position with reference to said cutter, and having a plane face opposite and c011- tinuously substantially parallel with the plane face of said feed belt, and a table section in advance of said cutter having a plane face held continuously substantially parallel with and opposite to the plane face of said feed belt and yieldin ly adjustable to and from the plane face o said feed belt to yieldin ly hold the stock in contact with the plane ace of said belt.

3.' In combination with a rotary cutter to surface one face of the stock, a table section in rear of said cutter having a plane face adjustable into alignment with the cutting edge of said cutter and adapted to be locked in fixed relation to the cutter, a table section in advance of the cutter having a plane face adjustable yieldingly transversely to its plane face to a plurality of plane parallel positions, and a feed-belt having its. feeding face opposite to said cutter and the plane faces of said table sections in a plane parallel to the plane faces of said table sections to feed the stock forward across the cutter between the cutter and feed belt.

4. In combination with a rotary cutter to surface one face of the stock, a first stock supporting member provided with a plane face between which and said cutter the stock issfed, a secondv Vstock supporting member having a face of said first stock supporting member on thesame side of the stock with and in rear of said cutter and held in fixed relation to the cutter, and a third stock supporting member on the same side of the stock with said cutter and in advance of the cutter having a plane face continuously held substa'llLl tially parallel to the plane face of said first stock supporting member and yieldingly adjustable to and from the plane face ofsaid first stock supporting member.

.5. In combination with a rotary cutter to surface one face of the stock, acarriage movable to and from said cutter to predetermine the space available for the passage of the stock, a feed belt carried by said carriage and having a plane feeding face opposite lane face parallel to the plane su stantially parallel to the plane face of l said feed belt adapted to automatically force the stock forward of said cutter away from thecutter land against the plane face of said feed belt.

' 6. In combination with a rotary cutter to surface one face of the stock, afirst stock supporting member opposite to and extending both forwardly of and rearwardly of said rotary cutter' to support and feed the stock and providedwith a lane face between which and said cutter t e stock is fed, a second stock supporting member having a plane face parallel to the plane face of said rst stock supporting member on the same side of the stock with and in rear of said cutter vand held in fixed relation to the cutter,

,surface one face of the stock, a carriage movable to and from said cutter to predetermine the space available for the passage 'ofthe stock, a stock feeding member carried by said carriage,-a table section in rear of the cutter adjustable into alignment with the cutter andv adapted to receive and pass the stock between said table section and cartriage, and a plurality of members forward of thev cutter to independently yieldingly press i different stock sections away from the cutter and against said carriage.

8. In combination with a rotary cutter to surface one face of the stock, a carriage movable to and from said cutter to predetermine `the space available `for the passage of the stock, a stock feeding member carried by cutter adjustable and yieldingly energized to press the stock away from said cutter and toward said carriage, said forward table section bein provided with a plurality of independent ymovable and yieldingly energized members also tending to press the stock away from said cutter and toward said carriage.

In testimony whereof we have aixed our signatures.

GEORGE LITTLEFORD. JOHN C. KUYKENDALL. 

